(201) Magazine Blogs

Saturday, March 31, 2012

All healthy Rangers on the ice this afternoon but defenseman Steve Eminger (sprained right ankle) did not skate with the group for the second straight day. Asked whether this indicated a setback, coach John Tortorella said “no.” But even on the road, Eminger has essentially been skating on his own.

Same lines today for the Rangers that started last night’s 4-1 win over the Canadiens and Tortorella said after that when it comes to Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik’s line, Carl Hagelin is probably the most ideal option to complete the trio. Tortorella has been experimenting with his lines as the playoffs near as well as his defense pairs.

The Blues, one point behind the Rangers in the race for the President’s Trophy with 106 points, host the NHL-worst Blue Jackets later today.

The Rangers’ magic number over the Penguins, second in the Atlantic Division, is three points so tomorrow could be a chance to clinch the top spot in the Eastern Conference if things break correctly for the Rangers. At least they’ll know what’s at stake when they host the Bruins at 6:30 p.m. as the Penguins face the Flyers at 12:30 p.m. Of course, Tortorella said today he doesn’t necessarily make much of home-ice advantage in the playoffs except for a Game 7.

Either this wasn’t the Canadiens team the Rangers lost to twice in Montreal or it wasn’t the Rangers’ team that performed so poorly north of the border. As Brian Boyle said, the Canadiens tried to “lull us to sleep, they tried to bait us,” in order for the Canadiens to beat the Rangers in transition. But the Rangers, except for a few minutes late in the second period, never lost control of the game nor did they allow the Canadiens to outskate them.

The answer, of course, is that this is a Canadiens team - the GM was fired yesterday - that can’t wait to get to the end of the season.

The Rangers, who reduced their magic number to clinch the Eastern Conference’s top seed while notching their 50th victory for just the third time in franchise history while climbing atop the NHL standings with 107 points over idle St. Louis, have now won four straight against four opponents not going to the playoffs - the Maple Leafs (4-3 shootout win on Saturday, the Wild, a 3-2 win on Tuesday, the Jets, a 4-2 win on Wednesday, and now the Canadiens.

Coach John Tortorella said after the game that those types of the games are not the easiest to play because the opponents can play so loose.

Three of the Rangers final four regular-season games will be against playoff teams and the regular-season finale, next Saturday at the Garden, is against the Capitals, who may be playing to get in as an eighth seed - and face the Rangers yet again in the first round.

“Our approach doesn’t change,” Henrik Lundqvist said. “I think we have to look at each game as an opportunity to build our own game and build our own confidence and just make sure we feel really good when the season’s over.”
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Henrik Lundqvist (37-16-5, 1.93 GAA) vs. Carey Price (26-27-11, 2.41 GAA) in nets tonight. The Canadiens have lost two straight and are in a 1-2-3 slide.

Before the game, NYPD Det. Steven McDonald, wounded in the line of duty in 1986, presented his annual Extra Effort Award to Rangers captain Ryan Callahan, now a three time winner after also winning in 2009 and 2010.

“Thank God it’s Friday,” McDonald said. “Coach Tortorella, Captain Callahan, you have to know how much we appreciate your hardwork, tenacity and fire. All we ask is you play like champions and we’ll see you in June.”

The award, of course, is very meaningful to the players because it’s voted upon by the fans and reflects their sentiments toward the player. Callahan is the perfect honoree and coach John Tortorella hit it perfectly this morning when he called Callahan the team’s “catalyst.”

All the pregame information you need, including the complete lines, can be found here and here.

Friday, March 30, 2012

And in a slight journalistic reversal (OK, a seismic shift in how a sports writer normally goes about his duties), I actually got to talk to Boyle about some of the subjects I wrote about after today’s morning skate, since I wasn’t in Winnipeg Wednesday to cover Boyle scoring a goal for the second straight game.

Other than, Boyle has been providing his usual solid defense and also contributing with crucial faceoff wins.

Boyle, of course, also had an upper front tooth knocked out on Andrew Ladd’s high sticking double minor in Wednesday’s 4-2 win at Winnipeg. Boyle showed off the results of the dental work he received immediately after the game. The short story: the Rangers recovered the tooth from the ice and before boarding the post-game flight home to New York, Boyle had the tooth placed back in his gum, where it sits proudly today. Long story: It took a couple of shots of novocain and a lot of scraping inside the gum and around the tooth’s roots to be able to put the tooth back in with a post. It’s sitting there for now, though Boyle said it will probably need additional work and he wasn’t sure it would be a permanent fix. To put it gently, Boyle said it wasn’t a comfortable procedure.

The Rangers will dress the same lineup tonight against the Canadiens, meaning Henrik Lundqvist will make his season-high eighth straight start.

“Your body and your brain, how you manage your energy between games,” Lundqvist said when I asked him about the “muscle memory” of starting a long string of games in a row, which has been how he’s operated in every season save for his rookie season other than this season. “You get into a flow and I like it to prepare for what’s coming when there are no nights off. I feel pretty good.”

That said, Lundqvist added he doesn’t really have much input into his work schedule, leaving it up to goalie coach Benoit Allaire and coach John Tortorella.

“Not a lot, I leave it up to the coaches, all year they’ve been making decisions that have been good,” Lundqvist said. “We’ll see the last couple of games how we do it. I trust them as to how they make the decisions. They’ve only surprised me a couple of times out of the (78) games. They understand the game and I trust their decision.”

Lundqvist added he’s adjusted his positioning “a little bit in the last couple of games” and is feeling very comfortable in the net. Typically, Lundqvist likes playing deeper in the crease than many NHL goalies.

The Rangers enter tonight’s game with a magic number of five points to clinch the the top seed in the Eastern Conference (which would be an amazing feat considering this is a franchise that hasn’t had home-ice advantage in a playoff series since 1996). That means any combination of Rangers points gained or lost by the current second-place team in the Atlantic Division, the Penguins, who are at 100, five behind the Rangersafter their home-and-home sweep by the Islanders, equaling five will clinch the conference’s top spot. The Flyers are only two points behind the Penguins in the division so the Rangers just need a combination of three points between them and the Flyers to ensure Philly can’t pass them. So, if the Rangers win tonight, regulation or overtime and the Penguins lose in regulation tonight at Buffalo, the Rangers could clinch the conference Sunday against the Bruins either with a win or OT/Shootout loss.

Also, before tonight’s game, the winner of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award will be announced as voted upon by the fans. In my opinion, Ryan Callahan (a three-time winner), Dan Girardi or Brandon Prust will probably be the fan favorites in the voting.

“I think Cally plays at a high level all the time,” coach John Tortorella said. “He creates the momentum for us in the last game (a 4-2 win at Winnipeg on Wednesday), that’s just a big part of his game. He’s a catalyst. Not just scoring shorthanded goals, and banging, and big plays on the boards, that’s who he is. That’s why he is what he is for us. As we continue to go, I think that’s going to come more to the forefront.

“He’s an All-Star,” Tortorella added about Girardi. “He’s a guy that, really, not just this year, but guts of last year, our most consistent guy in what he does. He’s improving moving the puck as far as ** passes. He defends. He’s really been our most consistent defender and plays with some jam. You look at Ryan Callahan, you look at Dan Girardi, this is the beginning of the foundation of our core and what we expect out of the players. He brings that every night.”

Canadiens at Rangers
Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
TV: MSG Plus
Radio: WBBR-AM 1130
Storyline: The Eastern Conference-leading Rangers (49-21-7) have lost two of three to conference-worst Canadiens (29-34-14) but beat them at Madison Square Garden, 5-3, on Nov. 5. Pierre Gauthier, who earlier this season fired assistant coach Perry Pearn, a Rangers’ assistant coach under Tom Renney, and, later, head coach Jacques Martin, was fired as Canadiens general manager on Thursday.
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Rangers have re-assigned rookie defenseman Tim Erixon to Connecticut (AHL) today after he was a healthy scratch for the second straight game in Wednesday’s 4-2 win at Winnipeg.

Erixon had two assists in five games in his third stint with the Rangers this season, with those assists coming in the final two games he played. But he only logged 9:41 in the Rangers’ 4-3 shootout win at Toronto on Saturday and was on the ice for both the Maple Leafs’ first and last goals.

Overall, Erixon has two assists in 18 games for the Rangers this season and three goals and 30 assists in 43 games for the Whale in his first season of pro hockey in North America.

Erixon came out of the lineup for Anton Stralman. Stralman playing well at Minnesota with an assist in 19:45 while he was a minus-1 in 11:00 at Winnipeg and played just 42 seconds on the power play after coach John Tortorella indicated the night before he wanted to use Stralman more in man-advantage situations.

Still, the Rangers probably didn’t have any plans to take Stralman out of the lineup so they probably wanted to get Erixon back into Connecticut’s lineup rather than having him remain a healthy scratch at the NHL level.

It also means that Steve Eminger is likely close to returning from a sprained right ankle, which have reduced Erixon’s chances of playing even further.
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

So I failed as a travel agent because 1) I couldn’t find a flight to Winnipeg that didn’t well exceed the travel budget and 2)even if I pushed to go over said budget, the flights I was looking at connected through Denver.

Anyway, so I’m headed home tonight where hopefully I’ll be in front of my TV to watch the Rangers face the Jets. Currently, I’m in Chicago, waiting for a connection. True story, on flight from Minneapolis, guy sitting in seat in front of me turns, looks at me and says, “Bergen Record?” Rangers fan living in Chicago who had flown up to Minnesota for last night’s 3-2 win over the Wild.

Random.

Anyway, from Winnipeg, MSG’s John Giannone reports that goalie Marty Biron, Steve Eminger, Jeff Woywitka and Tim Erixon were on the ice for an optional morning skate. Sounds like it could be the same lineup as the Rangers dressed last night with Henrik Lundqvist making his seventh straight start. That information will likely become available before I land back in New York. You guys know where to check to find out.

If Lundqvist does start, there could be a chance he starts the rest of the way. But, again, me trying to figure out John Tortorella’s goalie plans is becoming a fool’s game.

Rangers at Jets
Tonight, 7 p.m.
TV: MSG Plus
Radio: WBBR-AM 1130
Storyline: The Rangers can sweep the four-game season series from the Jets (35-33-8), outscoring them 8-1 in the first three games including 3-0 shutouts in the last two games, both at Madison Square Garden. The Jets are in a 1-4-0 slide, nearly extinguishing their playoff hopes. The Rangers are 9-2-2 in the second game of back-to-back sets.
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In the victorious Rangers’ dressing room, after an important Rangers’ victory, Brad Richards was the first to admit that the pace of tonight’s game was at times not the fastest. A “stinker” Richards called it in terms of pace.

The Rangers are now three points up on the Penguins in the Atlantic Division with both teams having six games remaining. The winner of the division will finish first in the Eastern Conference and play the eighth seed. In the battle for No. 8 tonight, Buffalo went into Washington and beat up on the Capitals, 5-1. So the Sabres moved into eighth place with 86 points, two more than the Capitals. However, the Sabres have won five straight so they are only two points behind seventh-seeded Ottawa. The Flyers, meanwhile, maintain a four-point lead over the Devils for the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference meaning Philadelphia would likely be the Rangers’ first-round opponent if the Penguins overtake them for first.
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At one point, tonight’s game might have been an NHL marquee matchup: The Wild led the NHL with 43 points on Dec. 12 as they had compiled a 20-7-3 record. Since then, the likely draft lottery-bound Wild are 11-27-7.

Rangers starters: Lundqvist, McDonagh-Girardi, Anisimov-Stepan-Callahan (Nice job getting McDonagh and Stepan on the ice to start their game with so many of their friends/family in attendance.
Rangers scratches: John Scott, Tim Erixon, Jeff Woywitka, Steve Eminger, Mats Zuccarello

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A lot of homecoming storylines for tonight’s game: Ex-Wild franchise player Marian Gaborik is playing his second game back at the Xcel Energy Center as a member of the Rangers, Minnesota natives Derek Stepan (Hastings), Ryan McDonagh (St. Paul) and Stu Bickel (Chanhassen) are all back with large friends/family/former coaches contingents coming to the game tonight. For McDonagh and Bickel, it will be there first NHL game at the arena while Stepan played here last season for the Rangers.

And in the Wild room, ex-Ranger center Erik Christensen will be playing his first game against his old team since being dealt on Feb. 3 (he’s reverted to No. 26 with the Wild after ceding that number to Ruslan Fedotenko this season with the Rangers so Brad Richards could have Fedotenko’s former No. 19). Also, ex-Ranger fan favorite Jed Ortmeyer (remember when a lot of Rangers’ fans thought Ortmeyer was destined to be the Rangers captain eventually?) is healthy and resuming his NHL career.

About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.